Preface

During the 1980s considerable effort was placed into research of fuzzy logic and neural networks. In the 1990s this effort was utilised by a rapidly increasing number of applications in different industrial sectors. Finnish research teams were heavily involved in the research of these ‘adaptive and intelligent methods’ or ‘soft computing’ and the groups also included some of the top international expertise. Industrial application of these methods started in Finland in the early 1990s. The work was helped by the traditional and newly emerging industrial sectors, for which the methods were well suited.

The Adaptive and Intelligent Systems Applications technology programme was launched in autumn 1994 with a 6-month preliminary phase. The reasons behind the initiation and timing of the programme were the rising interest among companies, good prospects in the field and concern that valuable research results were not being fully utilised. The objective of the programme was to develop economically viable adaptive and intelligent systems applications for different products and production processes in different fields. The goals were to be reached through high level research, cooperation between research groups and companies and networking to allow the continuous transfer and dissemination of the expertise gained. The main methods applied in the programme were fuzzy logic, neural networks, probabilistic methods and evolutionary computation.

Interest in adaptive and intelligent methods increased considerably during the technology programme. This increase was expected but its extent was a surprise. The initial budget of the three-year programme was estimated at FIM 100 million. A two-year extension was found to be necessary and towards the end of the technology programme the budget exceeded FIM 187 million (EUR 31 million). A new technology programme is under consideration, and it has been suggested that projects applying adaptive and intelligent methods would also be included in the new programme.

The total number of product development projects was 106 and about 63 % of the total budget was allocated to them. According to an evaluation, half of the projects would never have been started without the help of the technology programme. The product development and increased productivity during the programme has also been estimated to be worth FIM 250 – 300 million (EUR 40 – 50 million). In total more than 160 companies have participated in the technology programme and over 10 new companies applying soft computing methods have been established.

The total number of research projects was 41. The results were considered to be of a high international standard and are being effectively utilised in industrial applications. Research groups have acted as remarkable nodes in the network that has formed, both at national and international levels. At the beginning of the programme Finland had some top international expertise in the field. Now that the programme is ending, this top group has certainly gained far more Finnish members.

The compilation and editing of this final report was partially financed also by NEuroNet, European Network of Excellence in Neural Networks.

Tekes wishes to thank warmly the steering group for its active and valuable work, programme manager Ossi Taipale for the considerable effort he put into the technology programme as well as all groups, companies and organisations that participated in the programme.

Helsinki, March 2000

Tekes, the National Technology Agency

jukka.iivarinen@hut.fi
http://www.cis.hut.fi/neuronet/Tekes/Preface.shtml
Monday, 27-Nov-2000 14:34:45 EET